Monthly Archives: March 2016

Our service this morning was a joyful reflection on the fact that the tomb is empty, Jesus is alive, and on the implications of this for our lives. 'I've never stopped believing that something new can always happen.' That sentiment, said Duncan, attributed to the poet Seamus Heaney expresses our attitude in the light of resurrection. There are always new awakenings, always hope. Chris Watt We heard a number of voices at this morning’s family service.

Experiencing Easter John writes: We all experience our Christian faith in different ways, but I think we all tend to imagine that the experiences of others are broadly similar to ours. Personally, I have difficulties with ‘experiencing’ Easter at the proper time. Partly, this is to do with my past, and my temperament – I can think of Easters when I was a younger man when the joy of others only served to accentuate my own sadness and pain –

Mark 16:1-8 Jesus has risen 16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been

Footsteps from a faith journey. Four quotations from One Yellow Door, by Rebecca de Saintonge, a moving memoir in which she describes her journey through darkness as her husband endures, with great grace, an incurable dementia (Lewy Body Dementia) which gradually destroys the mind while often not obliterating the sense of identity. Some of these readings seen particularly relevant for Good Friday. One About an encounter with God after she met Jack,

Don't forget tonight (Friday 25th March) at 8.00pm: there will be a Tenebrae service at the Church. Readings and reflections as the candles are snuffed out, helping us imagine the sense of gathering darkness on the first Easter Friday. Jesus dies and is buried. Has the light of the world been forever extinguished? It seems that darkness is victor.......... And so we enter into Christ's suffering, and as we reflect on times we've felt abandoned in

Housegroup questions on Mark 14:3-9 Two alternative readings we set in the Narrative Lectionary for Sunday – Mark 11:1-11, the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a colt, and Mark 14:3-9, the story about Jesus being anointed by the woman in Bethany. Jonathan chose to speak on the second passage. His sermon was a powerful exposition of Jesus subverted contemporary assumptions – I’ve asked Jonathan for a copy to post on the web-site, as the

And the other thought was this. One passage, the crowds shouting out to Jesus on the streets of Jerusalem. (Mark 11:1-11); the other, the woman, part of a small group, with a personal focus on Jesus. (Marl 14:3-9) Which group would I be happier in? Definitely in the small group, face to face with Jesus, engaging with Jesus. The reason I say that with confidence, is my personality tends towards introversion, rather than extroversion. Extroverts

I don’t know which of the two passages in tomorrow’s reading will be the subject of the sermon, but I want to share a couple of ways in which the passages ‘spoke’ to me. One is the story of the woman breaking the jar of expensive perfume and anointing Jesus’ feet with it. (Mark 14:3-9) There are lots of interesting questions and challenges in the passage – what is the equivalent today of doing a ‘beautiful thing’ for Jesus? Is there

Mark 11:1-11 Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King 11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”